A hidden gem for academic writing
I’ve used Scrivener for years to write manuscripts and proposals. It’s great for structuring a long draft, but the moment I needed a real bibliography or clean output for a journal, it turned into endless compile tweaking. I made it work for a decade, but kept looking for better.
This app is better. It’s built natively on Markdown and Typst, so my writing stays clean and portable while citations and cross-references just work instead of fighting me. And it actually compiles — the whole manuscript straight to a PDF, a Word file, or typeset output via LaTeX and Typst, right from the app.
It already does almost everything Scrivener does — the binder, section organization, outline and corkboard, live preview, writing sprints, track changes — but with far more advanced features built for reference-heavy academic work. The sync is seamless too: I draft on my phone and it’s right there on my Mac.
There’s so much potential here, and even today it’s the writing environment I’ve been waiting years for. If you write anything long with references and wished Scrivener understood scholars, this is it.
This app is better. It’s built natively on Markdown and Typst, so my writing stays clean and portable while citations and cross-references just work instead of fighting me. And it actually compiles — the whole manuscript straight to a PDF, a Word file, or typeset output via LaTeX and Typst, right from the app.
It already does almost everything Scrivener does — the binder, section organization, outline and corkboard, live preview, writing sprints, track changes — but with far more advanced features built for reference-heavy academic work. The sync is seamless too: I draft on my phone and it’s right there on my Mac.
There’s so much potential here, and even today it’s the writing environment I’ve been waiting years for. If you write anything long with references and wished Scrivener understood scholars, this is it.
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Sstreamlinger
Finally, a writing app built for researchers and non-fiction writing. Also good for fiction writing
I do research writing—papers, proposals, manuscripts. I needed an app that actually fit my workflow, not some generic tool.
Folio Writer does it right:
Bibliography support built in. I can integrate my citations directly without copy-pasting everything.
Lab Notebook template. Perfect for organizing experiments and observations as I go.
Track changes actually work. When I share drafts with co-authors, they can see edits clearly and we can iterate fast.
Canvas and Outline views. I switch between them depending on what I’m working on—it just flows.
Composition mode when I need to focus. Everything else disappears.
Exports cleanly to Word, PDF, Markdown. No fighting with formatting after.
Syncs across my Mac and iPad in real-time. Version history is free, so I don’t panic if I accidentally delete something.
This is exactly what I’ve been looking for. Built for how researchers actually work.
Folio Writer does it right:
Bibliography support built in. I can integrate my citations directly without copy-pasting everything.
Lab Notebook template. Perfect for organizing experiments and observations as I go.
Track changes actually work. When I share drafts with co-authors, they can see edits clearly and we can iterate fast.
Canvas and Outline views. I switch between them depending on what I’m working on—it just flows.
Composition mode when I need to focus. Everything else disappears.
Exports cleanly to Word, PDF, Markdown. No fighting with formatting after.
Syncs across my Mac and iPad in real-time. Version history is free, so I don’t panic if I accidentally delete something.
This is exactly what I’ve been looking for. Built for how researchers actually work.
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PSPaahana Su
Response from developer
Thank you so much for your review! We are thrilled that you find Folio Writer is useful for your academic writing workflow.
